


read all instructions before baking

by shadowtraveled (meteorfest)



Series: Shadows on the Water [21]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, birthday fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-19
Updated: 2015-08-19
Packaged: 2018-04-15 13:20:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4608273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meteorfest/pseuds/shadowtraveled
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Nico makes a valiant effort in baking a cake for his boyfriend's birthday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	read all instructions before baking

**Author's Note:**

> Written in response to a prompt from an-yagami on tumblr. Happy birthday, Percy Jackson, your boyfriend's a fire-hazard.

“Are you sure you don’t want any help?”

Nico looked at the box of cake mix that he’d bought, planning to bake a cake for his boyfriend’s birthday. It seemed so simple - just follow the directions on the box, surprise Percy, and profit off the ensuing thanks from his boyfriend. Easy, right? Why would he need help with it?

“I think I’ve got it, Hazel,” Nico told his sister. 

Hazel had come to Manhattan with Frank and Reyna so they could celebrate Percy’s birthday together. Right now, Reyna and Frank were out getting some last minute extra presents, while Jason and Piper had taken Percy out for lunch. They had invited Nico to come along, but Nico had turned them down, telling them off to the side that he had some preparations to make with Hazel for the party they were throwing for Percy later that evening. Annabeth was supposed to arrive around five to help with dinner, but in the mean time, Nico had decided he would be the one to make the cake.

Hazel wasn’t sure she should leave her brother alone in the kitchen. While Nico was a pretty decent cook, he tended to work without recipes or instruction, cooking on instinct. Cakes, especially ones made from a box, weren’t exactly something that could be done without following instructions. 

“If you’re sure,” she said. She wrinkled her nose and turned to head back to the living room, where she was setting up decorations. Piper was planning to ditch Jason and Percy after lunch to help, leaving Jason to make sure Percy was out of the apartment the rest of the day until the party. “I’ll be out here if you need any help.”

Nico gave an absent nod as he tore the box open and dumped the bag of mix out, then grabbed a mixing bowl to start making the batter.

* * * * *

Hazel stood on a small step-ladder, hanging up the banner that she’d carefully painted the words “Happy Birthday, Percy!” on in swooping cursive, matched with a rushing wave across the banner and accented with a trident in place of the exclamation point. She’d spent all afternoon the day before painting the banner and was very proud of how it had come out. 

“Hazel, they don’t have any vegetable oil!” Nico called from the kitchen.

Nico’s call surprised her and she ended up dropping the edge of the banner she’d been pinning up. The whole thing fell to the floor. Hazel gave a frown and climbed back down the step-ladder. “Melt the same amount of butter and use milk instead of water,” she suggested. “It’ll taste the same, if not better.”

“Okay.”

Hazel picked up her banner and looked towards the kitchen. “Do you need a hand?”

“Nope, I’m good!”

Hazel climbed back up the ladder to start hanging her banner again.

* * * * *

“Is it supposed to be this runny?” Nico asked a few minutes later. He’d followed Hazel’s suggestion to swap in butter and milk in lieu of what the instructions said and now he was stirring the batter carefully. 

“Do you need me to come in there and check it?”

“No,” Nico replied. He brought the wooden spoon he was using to mix the batter up and let the excess batter run off it and back into the bowl. “I just thought batter was supposed to be thicker than this.”

“It’ll thicken up as it bakes,” Hazel reassured him from the living room. 

“If you say so.”

Nico grabbed the cake pan and began pouring the batter in. He spread it out as much as he could and, when he was satisfied that he’d gotten as much batter out of the bowl and into the pan, he picked it up and turned to put it in the oven. He grabbed the box to check the temperature and, a moment later, swore under his breath.

He was  _supposed_  to pre-heat the oven  _before_  putting the cake in. 

Oh, well. He’d keep an eye on it, come back into the kitchen and check on it while it baked. As long as he paid attention to it, there’d be no problem, right?

* * * * *

Wrong. Absolutely wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, Nico di Angelo, you were wrong.

“Get it out of the oven!” Hazel shouted over the smoke alarm that was now sounding a rather distressed alert. “Turn it off and get the cake out!”

Smoke was coming out of the oven and Nico was trying to cover his mouth and nose with his shirt as the same time he was trying to get the oven off. He flipped the dials and opened the door to the oven, which resulted in a face full of burnt cake-smelling smoke. Hazel ran to the glass door that led to the balcony off the living room and opened it to try to help air out the apartment, then tugged Nico, with the smoking cake still in his mitt-protected hands, towards the balcony.

“Get it out. The less smoke, the better.”

Nico set the still hot pan down on the mat outside of the glass window, where the cake would eventually stop smoking and cool down. Most likely, it was in no way fit for human consumption, but he was pretty sure that wouldn’t stop the birds that would be attracted to it. 

The door to the apartment opened and Piper came in. She wrinkled her nose at the smoke that immediately wafted towards her and covered her mouth with one hand. “So I’m guessing the cake’s a no go?”

Nico groaned. “I’ll start another one.”

“We don’t have time,” Piper told him. She wished she had Jason’s power over wind to help blow out the smoke, but until then, she reached to turn on the ceiling fan to help disperse the smoke. “Percy’s not dealing with Jason’s distractions. We don’t have time to go get another cake mix and start over.”

Nico gave another groan. Why had he thought he could bake a simple cake? He ran his hand through his hair. “Okay. Okay, new plan.”

* * * * *

“Jason, seriously, I already know you guys are planning a surprise party,” Percy told his friend. The son of Jupiter had been trying to distract him since lunch and it just really wasn’t going to work. “You really think I wouldn’t figure it out, with you and Piper taking me out, Hazel, Frank, and Reyna coming over from California, and Annabeth coming in from camp?”

“Fine, then, ruin the surprise,” Jason replied, throwing his hands up into the air in exasperation. He’d done his best. Percy just wasn’t falling for it. “But when your boyfriend gets cranky because his plan fell out, I am completely blameless and it’s all your fault.”

“Nico’s not going to get cranky.” Percy rolled his eyes. “I bet he’ll be too busy making out with me to notice I figured out his little plan.”

Jason rolled his eyes right back at Percy and followed his friend from the elevator to the apartment. Percy reached into his pocket to get the keys, then frowned before remembering that he’d given Piper his keys. The fact that the daughter of Aphrodite had asked for his keys and given the excuse of helping Hazel with something had been one of the final clues he’d needed to figure out just what was going on that day.

Percy knocked on the door to his own apartment. “Nico?” he called through the door. “Let me in, Piper has my keys.”

The lock on the door clicked and Nico had the door open a moment later. He gave Percy one of his small, crooked smiles. “You gave Piper your keys?”

“She’s very persuasive and you know it,” Percy said defensively. He stepped into the apartment, Jason following him, and Nico closing the door behind them.

With the door closed, the lights off, and the shades on the windows drawn, the apartment was pretty dim, but Percy could still see the outline of decorations that hadn’t been up when he left and he could hear the whispers of a few demigods who hadn’t been there earlier that day. He stepped further into the apartment.

The lights went on and Annabeth, Piper, Hazel, Frank, Reyna, Jason, Nico, as well as Sally and Paul, all raised their hands with a shout of “Surprise!”, all according to plan. Percy gave a grin, despite figuring out what his friends were up to, and laughed. 

“Thanks, guys!” Although Percy wasn’t much for celebrating his birthday after the tragedy his sixteenth birthday, he still appreciated that his friends would get together for him and celebrate with him. 

Nico stepped out of the kitchen with a cake in his hands. It was perfectly decorated in blue frosting, accented with balloons and ribbons of green and darker blue frosting, with a birthday salutation scrawled across it. There were candles sticking out of the frosting, lit and ready for his birthday wish. The group of friends immediately broke out into the usual birthday song and, as they wished him a happy birthday, Percy blew out the candles, applauded by his friends and parents. He smiled at Nico, giving him a look that let the son of Hades know that he knew this was all Nico’s idea.

Nico just smiled back at him.

* * * * *

Later that night, after the party was over and most of the guests off to their own places or hotel rooms - or, in Hazel and Frank’s case, to the guest room of Percy’s apartment - Percy pulled Nico into their room, pressing a kiss to his boyfriend’s lips. 

“Thanks for that,” he told Nico. “I really appreciate it.”

Nico pressed a kiss of his own against Percy’s lips. “It’s your birthday. I couldn’t just let it go uncelebrated.”

“I know.” Percy wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, holding Nico close. “Where’d you guys get the cake? It was great!”

Nico gave a small smile. “You know, it kind of pays off being Hestia’s favorite nephew."


End file.
